They found Grandma straightaway, fallen asleep on the deep armchair in the living room.
‘Let’s not wake her,’ her dad whispered, and they crept out, Ita listening to the soft sound her Grandma made as she snored.
Back in the garden, they made their way back towards the river. Ita could feel the 110relief that her Grandma is okay swirling around them and settling.
She heard her dad sigh and then take a large breath and let it go again.
‘Are you okay, dad?’ she asked.
‘I am, I’m more than okay. That was a very brave thing that you just did, and it’s made me realise something.’
‘What?’
‘That I can’t do everything by myself. I need to be brave too and for me that means, getting more help looking after Grandma.’
‘I can help,’ Ita said quickly.
‘I didn’t mean you,’ her dad said back, just as quickly.
‘But we can – me and mum, Greg and Frankie. You always go over by yourself, but we could come with you.’111
‘I didn’t think you would want to come,’ her dad said.
‘We do,’ Ita says gently. ‘We miss you.’
‘Okay, well that would be just great,’ her dad said.
Suddenly, there was a voice from the house. ‘Mike, is that you?’ They turned around to see Grandma behind them.
‘Sorry Mum, did we wake you?’
‘No, no, I just saw you. And Ita’s here. Big Ita!’
‘Big Ita?’
‘You’ve grown so much,’ her Grandma said. ‘Even in just the time you’ve been here.’
Then, there was another voice.
‘There you are!’ It’s Greg, with Frankie and Mum just behind him.
‘Grandma’s house!’ Frankie exclaimed. 112
‘Ita!’ her mum exclaimed when she saw her in her swimming suit. ‘Have you been, were you …’
‘But you’re afraid of the water,’ Greg and Frankie chimed together.
Ita and her dad smiled at each other as they said it.
‘You’re not going to believe what Ita can do,’ her dad said.
‘No way!’ Frankie said, beaming. ‘Ita, can you swim?’
‘A swimmer!’ Grandma said. ‘Ah, wonderful. I used to love to swim. Although sometimes it used to take me a bit of time to take the plunge and get into the water.’
‘Watch this, everyone,’ her dad said. ‘Ita, will you show them?’
Ita nodded and they walked to the 113end of the garden. She slipped into the water, without a sound, and felt the scales fix over her. Light and free and strong, she powered through the water, quite lost in the feeling of moving so effortlessly.
Then she turned and looked back.
She saw her family looking back at her, dazzled and delighted.
I can be brave, she thought.
114 I am brave. A week later, Ita and her family were working together at her grandmother’s house. Frankie was emptying bins, Greg was in charge of making tea, Ita cleaned the birdbath and refilled the feeders. Her parents were cleaning upstairs, and Ita could feel her Grandma watching her from her chair by the window. She waved over to her. A lot had happened since they were here a week ago, too much to feel true really. The day after she swam in the river, she walked up to Olive and Faisal at school, and they just started talking to each other. Ita can’t even remember what she said at first to get talking, but before she knew it they were talking about where they would go in a hot air balloon and if they had a magic plate that would refill with only one kind of food, what food would they choose?
116She had her first proper lesson at the swimming pool with Emile, and got in the water and swam underwater.
She was going to Faisal’s house with Olive next week to experiment with toast recipes.
Her head felt spinny when she thought about it all. Behind her, the river continued to creep past and, though she knew what would happen when she dipped her hand into the water, she couldn’t help but go over and 117plunge her fingers into the cold water.
‘Anything?’ her dad was behind her.
Ita pulled her hand out. There was no trace of scales, no fins.
‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘Not even one scale.’
‘I wonder why,’ Dad said. ‘It was so …’
‘Scaley?’
‘Yes, you were so scaley,’ Dad chuckled. ‘But, not anymore.’
‘I guess, maybe it’s because I don’t need the scales anymore. Now I can swim, now being afraid won’t stop me from swimming.’
‘Perhaps – it stopped working after the day you swam, didn’t it?’ Dad said, remembering. ‘Sometimes, I suppose, we just need a little help to get us swimming, don’t we? Like me, realising 118I don’t have to do everything myself.’
‘Yes,’ Ita said. ‘Just a helping hand.’
‘Do you fancy a swim now?’ he asked her.
‘Go on then,’ Ita said, and she pulled her clothes off showing her swimsuit on underneath.
‘Always ready!’ Dad said, laughing.
They swam together to the middle of the river, and Ita found that looking at her skin not changing was almost as captivating as when she used to transform.
‘Go for it!’ they heard a voice.
It was Grandma, sitting on the edge of the river, her feet dangling in the water. Ita grinned over at her and, for just a moment, the sunlight dappled through the trees and lit up the water by Grandma. 119
Ita thought she could spot scales on her Grandma’s feet, but when she looked again, they were no longer there.
Ita swam through the water, back to the bank, back to her family, making ripples as she went.
120
